One thing Cyborg had never expected to happen as a hero was to find Gizmo crash into him and promptly tell Cyborg that the H.I.V.E members needed Cyborg's help. Before Cyborg had finished processing that it was indeed Gizmo who had crashed into him (the plethora of insults helped speed the process up a little), Gizmo was dragging him across the city.
"Wait, exactly what is going on?" Cyborg demanded, coming to grasp that Gizmo was unfrozen and had just said that he wanted Cyborgs help.
"What did I just say, barfbrain?" Gizmo asked back. "Now hurry up."
"Calm down man, and tell me what is going on." Cyborg said, picking Gizmo up so that their faces were level.
It took a little time for Gizmo to stop screaming angrily and unintelligibly and for Cyborg to calm down after the brigade of insults tossed at him, but both boys did manage to cool off enough to have an intelligent conversation.
"Okay, so tell me. What is going on?"
"One question first, tin man. What have you guys been doing to Jinx?"
"Jinx? We haven't done anything. I mean, Robin gave her a communicator this morning, but she quit a couple of hours ago."
"And you didn't make sure she would have some place to go?"
"We thought she did. Jinx's smart, she can take care of herself."
"And you saw that she openly betrayed everyone at that battle! Did any of you stop to think about all the enemies she might have made or how many people would want revenge?" Gizmo's face was beginning to turn red, but he had gotten his point across.
"Jinx can easily take care of herself." Cyborg argued, but realizing he was repeating himself added, "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm trying to say that we went home to find Jinx lying on her old bed dead to the world."
"She could be tired."
"She wasn't just sleeping! SeeMore and Billy yelled in her ear! And that can wake Jinx up even when she's been up for 48 hours straight! Plus, if you actually look her breathing is all off."
"Alright. I'll come over and take a look at her." Cyborg agreed, though he still thought that Gizmo was over reacting. It was nice to see that the H.I.V.E didn't appear to bear a grudge, though, and he figured he might as well make sure Jinx was alright. He was supposed to be looking for the recent thief, but he didn't expect to find her anyway. He started compiling a mental list of equipment he'd need as he followed Gizmo to Jinx.
Beastboy had a tendency to make the strangest array of friends, but that tended to happen to superheroes. Raven's type of girl, for instance, would not be friends with someone like Starfire, who appeared to hold completely different values than Raven. Had they been normal, people like Kid Flash and Jinx probably would never have gotten together, nor would Speedy's type have hung around Mas y Menos. Yet, somehow, these relationships had happened.
And, like certain types of normal people did not hang out together, heroes and villains did not sit in a comfy (if somewhat small) house while one handed the other snacks from the pantry. Yet that was exactly what Beastboy and the newest villain, Cobra, were doing.
"Do you have any vegetarian stuff?" Beastboy asked after he had finished looking at the ingredients included in cream puffs.
Cobra scanned her pantry. "Do you want celery sticks?"
Beastboy figured that was the best he was going to get and nodded.
"So, this is where you live?" he asked.
"Yeah, but don't tell anyone." Cobra answered. She moved from the pantry and started pulling items out of a couple bags on the floor. There were mostly clothes, but a few accessories and food items were also included. One bag contained fried rice and spring rolls from the Chinese section of the food court from the mall. A spring roll was extracted and Cobra sat down across from Beastboy, munching happily. The snakes on either side of her face joined in, taking sections of food from her fingers while her mouth was busy chewing.
"Do you, always eat like that?" Beastboy asked, curious.
"Umm-hmm."
There was an awkward silence.
"Beastboy, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Why aren't you trying to arrest me?"
Beastboy coughed as, in his surprise, he forgot to finish chewing before he swallowed. Cobra thumped his back a few times before the food came back up, allowing him to swallow properly. "What?"
"Why aren't you trying to arrest me?"
"I don't know." Beastboy answered truthfully. He had come in with the intention of arresting her, but for some reason had allowed himself to be drawn into a companionable acquaintanceship with Cobra. Being with her actually reminded him of Terra however, because of the parallels it drew. Cobra would make the second criminal he was friends with, and his previous experience was telling him to expect disaster.
"Alright then." Cobra answered. "You've been in Jump City long?"
Beastboy nodded then, for lack of anything better to say asked, "Do you like jokes?"
"Sometimes."
"Why did the duck cross the road?"
"To get away from lame jokes?"
Beastboy was getting the feeling Cobra's opinion of his jokes was the same as Raven's, which was very low. "Why does no one like my jokes?"
"They're not really funny anymore. I had a friend who would say those kind of jokes all the time, but everyone got bored of them when they heard them for the 1000th time."
"Then what's a funny joke?"
"... I don't really know."
"I need something to make Raven laugh!"
"Heroes." Cobra moaned. "Why do you care if she laughs or not? Maybe she just doesn't show what she feels. Maybe she laughes internally."
Beastboy would have told Cobra just how right she was, but the doorbell rang. "What is this? A night for visitors?" Cobra grumbled as she walked towards the door. "I specifically chose this house so people wouldn't..."
Beastboy waited at the table, pushing his celery back and forth on the table, wondering whether to tell Robin about Cobra. Beastboy did like talking to her, but she had still robbed the mall. Beastboy had to wonder if the fact that she didn't have any money to buy stuff with counted for her at all. It probably didn't. If she hadn't become a criminal in the first place, she probably would have had enough money to buy whatever she stole. He was still deciding when Cobra and a grown man entered the room.
"Sit," Cobra demanded, much like she had to Beastboy when he first entered. He had learned the Cobra would loosen up with a little bit of casual talk, but at first she was rather stern and villain-like.
"Your name is Cobra, correct?" the man questioned formally, without obeying Cobra's demand to sit.
"Yes."
"And you were born in Egypt?"
"Yes."
"Cobra, my name is Set, brother of Osiris and Isis."
Looking at the expression of Cobra's face, Beastboy decided that he should wait and learn about Set and decided what to do about Robin later.
Gizmo took Cyborg straight to the H.I.V.E hideout without any tricks or anything. In Cyborg's mind, this made it more likely that the H.I.V.E considered Jinx's life was in danger and, remembering the the H.I.V.E had known Jinx the longest (and therefore the best), started the discount the thought that Jinx was just sleeping rather heavily.
Cyborg knew where the H.I.V.E lived before this, of course. And Gizmo had to know that they knew. After all, the Titans had left a cursed pie at the H.I.V.E's door and, given the nature of the curse, the H.I.V.E would have been able to realize just who had left them the pie. Still, Cyborg let Gizmo lead him.
As soon as he reached the H.I.V.E base, Cyborg was whisked into Jinx's room and was just in time to see Kyd Wykkyd teleport in with an armload of medical tools, some of which looked very familiar.
"Are these mine?" Cyborg asked, appalled that anyone other than him would meddle with his tools. Cyborg had put hours of hard work into creating them. Hours which Kyd Wykkyd could have easily wasted through ignorance.
Kyd Wykkyd nodded, causing Cyborg's anger-meter to go up a notch.
"You were going through my things?" he asked, a little louder.
"Just do your job, tin man." Gizmo snapped. "I'll replace anything that's broken."
It was only because Cyborg had spent some time around the H.I.V.E that he managed to realize just how generous an offer Gizmo was making. Cyborg nodded, and started to look at Jinx on the bed.
"How is she?" asked Billy. A clamor of Billy voices soon followed, making Cyborg struggle to hold his temper and not kick the duplicator out. (Not that it would have done much good)
Fortunately, Gizmo kicked Billy out for him, while yelling a message for Mammoth. Cyborg wanted to know where Mammoth was, but wanted to examine Jinx more. He started to scan Jinx, when SeeMore burst in.
"Get out, crudmuncher!" Gizmo yelled before SeeMore could even say a word. Cyborg watched as Gizmo used one of his weapons to help SeeMore out.
Cyborg finally got the peace and quiet to examine Jinx when Gizmo locked the door. It seemed that she was in danger. (list of symptoms), but he could tell what would cause Jinx to react the way she was. In the end, Cyborg decided to bring Jinx to the Titan's Tower to keep her stable while he tried to find out what had happened to her.
He was surprised when the H.I.V.E members (with the noticeable exception of Gizmo) agreed. They even insisted on coming with him, which meant a quick way home. Gratefully, Cyborg agreed, and let Kyd Wykkyd take him and the rest of the H.I.V.E members to the Titans Tower. He also needed something to explain to the rest of the team why he had brought known criminals into the Tower.
"Kid Flash," a woman with a strong, but placeable accent greeted Kid Flash.
Kid Flash nodded. "That's me."
"You are the friend of someone named Jinx, am I right?"
Once again, Kid Flash nodded. "What about it?"
"I should warn you that there is someone who wants to hurt Jinx. I do not know who it is yet, however, with your help we should be able to catch them before she is to badly injured."
Kid Flash's first reaction was anxiety. He had to find Jinx fast before whoever wanted to hurt her, but shortly after anxiety came a trace of doubt. He did not know this woman or how she knew Jinx.
"Why would you say that? And why would you need my help?" he asked.
"If you want me to give you proof, I have none. However, one does not normally try to bring their own niece to justice without good reason."
"Your niece?"
"Yes. Now, I can not find her, but you can and you will prevent harm from coming to Jinx. If harm has already come to Jinx, then you can discover how Jinx was harmed, and I will then be able to heal her."
Kid Flash felt himself drawn in by the logic, though he could see some fallacies in it. The doubts were soothed away like they were nothing, and Kid Flash could see a smug smile on the woman's face.
"You agree with me, do you not?"
Kid Flash nodded for the third time. "Who are you, by the way?" he asked.
"I am Isis, wife of Osiris and mother of Horus."